EU Imposes Sanctions on Libya’s Kaniyat Militia

The European Council imposed restrictive measures on 11 individuals and four entities responsible for serious human rights violations and abuses in a number of countries, including Libya.

The US, Britain, and Germany earlier urged the Council’s 15-member Libya Sanctions Committee to blacklist Mohammed al-Kani and the Kaniyat militia.

Since their escape from Tarhuna last summer following a military defeat, dozens of mass graves were discovered and attributed to Kaniyat militiamen.

In this regard, the council imposed sanctions on two individuals and the militia group over “extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in Libya.”

The sanctions targeted Mohammed Khalifa al-Kani and his brother Abderrahim al-Kani who are accused of committing human rights violations between 2015 and June 2020 in Tarhuna.

Under the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime, the listed individuals and entities are subject to an asset freeze in the EU. Also, all listed individuals are subject to a travel ban to EU countries.

A former Libyan military officer told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that militias dominated the country in the past years and made profits through human trafficking and blackmailing.

The officer urged the EU and the Security Council to tackle the issues of killings and enforced disappearances of citizens.

He also armed groups would vanish if the government of national unity succeeds in uniting the military and security institutions in Libya.